New Beer Sunday (Week 658)

Here at 12:39pm, and 55 degrees in The city of Subdued Excitement, another from Steve's European trek, a beer I had to add to the site:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/577/305317/

 

Well this is officially one of the stupid best satisfying beers I've had in quite a moon.

Toppling Goliath Xhops Maroon Pale Ale



Cloudy golden with a creamy white head that leaves a wet but complete lacing. Nose is piney gone earthy finished with grassy. Taste follows suit, but favors the pine, right down to the resiny and dry finish. Drinkable? This bastard never had a chance of living past a few minutes, as all 22 ounces went down like water. I mean geez, this thing was just about the slickest, most satisfying thing I've drank in years. Seriously stupid. Mighty many thumbs up, and huge thanks to @Hookstrat for including this thing in our side bet fantasy baseball box!

 

Had a couple of their beers on my roadtrip and enjoyed both. Glad you enjoyed that one.
The main reason you got the Collaboration 7 was because CC was involved, I agree it tried to have too much going on really shine in either area.
Vermont was an awesome part of that trip, wish I could have spent a week there, couldn't believe I was that close to HF and Alchemist and didn't get by there.

 

A 6.8% saison by left hand. 2nd of the seried ive tried. No idea what a chokecherry is...

Smells of strong honey and a touch of alcohol. The Taste is semi medicinal I don't know if it's chokecherry coming through but it tastes like some kind of medicinal strawberry. It's not very intense it's quite subtle. It doesn't hide the alcohol very well. It's just a lot of Honey sweetness a slight medicinal tartness and some alcohol. I wouldn't drink again but I'm happy I got to try this. Cheers!

I was gathering all the pine cones in the yard and then I found these guys...



And this last one is a bit blurry...


I've been working the Chowder Fest Festival on Long Beach Island for the past week so it's nice to be at home outside in the peace and quiet. Besides the 3-day setup it took to set everything up I was working under the food tent which was so insane we ran out of two days worth of food, went to the grocery store bought more and then ran out again.

Cheers.

 

Everyone... I am out of new beer.

Seriously...

send me some new beer(s)!

Bud Light Lime Peach-A-Rita | Anheuser-Busch


Anheuser-Busch - Peach-A-Rita by imbibehour, on Flickr

----------------

Poured from the can into a Budweiser pilsner glass.

Quick soda pop fizz is made, making a faint non retention head that dissolves in seconds without a collar. Fairly quiet on carbonation noise when settled, and presents a wild body appearance. The color is a perfect example on the can, a peach orange color, and a pretty good one, it's almost neon like in it's appearance.

Aroma is straight up Del Monte from a can. Fruit cocktail and syrup with quite a bit of sweetness. That seems to be the angle, but it's not really that enjoyable, however a touch of rock salinity makes it a little interesting, but the aroma is a just bit too sweet.

Palate is pretty much like just any other malt-ternative beverage. Sweet sickly alcohol and sticky peach syrup mid flavor palate. Lots of simple sugar like syrup and not much else. Even the salt character isn't coming out as much that was anticipated. While luckily not too booze tasting, it does hit in the gut. Afterwards there is too much Hubba Bubba bubblegum sweetness and flavor, which doesn't even make the beer taste like fruit let alone peaches. There's a bit of faint dryness of the palate after awhile too, almost scorching in feel.

It is interesting to compare this to its Lime brother. That one seemed to have an angle, but this is just straight up booze sugar water.

look: 3 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2 | BA Generated Score: 2.24

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Cheers!

 

Sorry man, lots of positive vibes your way.

 

Those shelf mushrooms on your tree are likely one of the Ganoderma's. It is pretty easy to do a proper ID using the type of tree it's on and simple to match features of the mushroom, of which there are few to narrow it down from. Many good resources on the web.

 

Thanks! Im working on how to take spore prints. The tree is a pine. Ill look some things up.

 

Probably won't need a spore print for a shelf mushroom, the features on Ganoderma are fairly easy to distinguish one species to next. Pore surface color and type of tree are two helpful distinguishers once you have a good match by picture.

Always fun to do spore prints though. Some folks put them in glass and display them.

 

Enjoying the brief chill down here, though looks like it'll be back to 80's by the end of the week. Ah well, just means it'll be grilling season for a little while longer.

This week's new beer is Bell's Hell Hath No Fury. Going to put @jkblr review at the bottom for comparison.

Pours a dark brown, almost black color with a half finger of head that fades into a tiny amount of lacing on the top. Smells of coffee, dark chocolate, and roasted malts, touch of dark fruit. Taste is cloves, roasted malts, smoke, dark chocolate, and coffee. Medium-full body, minimal carbonation. Drinks closer to a stout, but either way it's very enjoyable. Quite complex flavors that meld nicely with a feel that isn't too heavy.

 

Damn ... now I wanna go mushroom hunting.

Have to settle for German pilsener hunting:



Blackwater Draw's German Pilsner

Half growler filled Saturday afternoon, poured Sunday afternoon, and this little flip-top half growler thingy is officially my favorite in the passel of growler/half growlers I recently inherited (amazing how these things seem to collect and group themselves, isn't it?).

So we'll cut to the chase: YES! The German pils is among my favorite styles, and BWD's version is fantastic, loads of green grassy hop flavor inside a nice bit of biscuit/bread malt flavor with a good nose, too. Nothing crazy or fancy, perhaps an earthy hop aftertaste that can build itself into formidability, but that's fine by me. It never gets medicinal and that's mainly because the little capsule of malt sweetness always introduces each swallow. It disappears and lets the hops go all sorts of crazy, but with each and every sip the bread malt reintroduces itself to offer some balance.

The review:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/33495/305297/?ba=Premo88#review
4.27 (no rDev — first review)

Cheers!

 

At 1:31pm, with 55 degrees still on the clock, the sun has broken through a bit, and I cracked a 2 week old crowler from one of my favorite breweries, one that @jhartley got to try a different brew from earlier this week: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/15824/302141/

 

Happy New Gift, Trade, Purloined (not really on the last) Beer Sunday (Week 658)!

I am not doing much in the way of any of them lately as I am still CANgested with a backlog of bottles & CANs, but new beers CANtinue to come my way all the same.

My first of the day was a crowler, courtesy of a friend who made a foray over to Camp Hill, PA & brought something back for me:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/47156/305247/?ba=woodychandler#review


I also received, albeit circuitously, a gift from a grateful person:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/37094/293400/?ba=woodychandler#review


That gets me started. Maybe I'll be back with some more ... stuff!

 

Shoulda been in the BIF buddy! Get in the next one come springtime!

 

Lots of shroom pics from Texas coming in to one of the ID pages I'm a member of. Apparently all that rain made for some great finds for quite a few people.

 

Czig Meister Blacksmith Stout

Howdy do, BAs? This oatmeal stout comes to me courtesy of the generous @SammyJaxxxx.

It pours a rich dark chocolate color with a finger-and-a-half of airy, dark tan foam that's quick to dissipate into nothingness.

Dry aroma of coffee and chocolate. Black dark-roast coffee dominates up front in the taste. Slight chocolate mid-palate. Twiggy hop bitterness mixes with the coffee on the backend.

Slightly creamy feel, but very thin bodied with modest carbonation.

This is a weird one. The dark coffee and chocolate flavors are really on point, but the thin body detracts from the experience for me. Appreciate the opportunity to try it, though.

 

Home from work and now for some beer.



Brocktoberfest

Idle Hands Craft Ales
Märzen / Oktoberfest / 5.50% ABV

4.03/5 rDev +1.3% | Score: 3.98
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

L-The beer pours a clear amber with a 3 finger off white head. The head recedes to a big central island and ring. Lacing is patchy but adequate.
S-Nose is faint in strength, but pleasantly malty.
T- The malt in the nose is fully present on the palate. It's sweetish, but not cloying. Overall it leans to the malty side slightly.
F- Overall mouthfeel is medium with light carbonation after the pour. The finish is slightly dry. A little fuller maybe than ideal for the style.
O- One of the better American made Marzen I've had this year. Definitely worth a purchase if you see it.

 

A- A hazy yellow golden hue with a no head and lacing.

S- A slight hint of oak and grapes.

T- The taste has some grape hints and very slight little oak hint.

M- A very light bodied, crispy, smooth with a decent carbonation beer.

O- Dry with a lots of carbonation and a decent kick.

 

It's been an ugly weekend of football for my teams, so might as well open another new beer. This is an interesting collab between Burial (NC) and Great Raft (LA). According to the website, this Kolsch was brewed in collaboration with Big Chief Shaka Zulu of the Yellow Pocahontas with Louisiana-grown rice. Also, 100% of the profits of this beer goes to the LEAF Feather Fund to keep the Mardi Gras Indians dancing.

Shallow Water Kolsch, Burial Beer Co, Asheville, NC


Love the artwork on the can (much better than my crappy pic which includes a slightly dirty glass). Despite the photo, this was a great looking beer with a crystal-clear pale straw color and a large and resilient white head. The smell was lemony with some orange and also floral notes. The citrus notes were there on the palate but restrained and they blended well with the grainy, crackery malt. Medium-bodied with medium, sharp carbonation leading to a crisp, dry finish. Really nice and something I would revisit frequently given the chance. Cheers!